HOBOKEN - Hoboken and Port Authority Police, the Hoboken Fire Department and the Jersey City Police Department's Special Operations division responded just before noon on Tuesday to reports of a suspicious package on a bench just outside the YMCA on the corner of 13th Street and Washington Street.

Police immediately cordoned off the immediate area while a Jersey City officer suited up in bomb squad gear in preparation to approach the package, which appears to be a black bundle near the 13th street bus station.

Bystanders said that they had noticed the package sitting there for up to two hours before law enforcement showed up.

UPDATE: Just after 12:30 Jersey City Special Operations executed a controlled detonation of the package.